South Carolina

Cotton Acres Projected to Slide Again in 2026 as Economic Pressures Mount

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 21:02:53 GMT

The U.S. cotton industry is bracing for another year of contraction as a “perfect storm” of high production costs, sluggish global demand, and stiff competition from alternative crops pushes producers to rethink their acreage.

According to the National Cotton Council’s (NCC) 45th Annual Early Season Planting Intentions Survey , U.S. cotton producers intend to plant 9.0 million cotton acres this spring, a 3.2% decline from 2025. While a 3% dip might seem modest in isolation, it follows a massive 17% reduction in acreage last year, signaling a sustained and sobering period of tough economic times for the industry.

And considering cotton producers lost, on average, more than $300 per acre last year, another year of declining acreage comes as little surprise to those in the industry, as some fear if the economist situation doesn’t change for cotton, more producers could exit farming in 2026.

The Economic Squeeze: Why the Shift?

In a recent interview on AgriTalk with host Chip Flory, NCC President and CEO Dr. Gary Adams highlighted the mounting pressure on farm balance sheets.

“Times are tough,” Adams says. “Prices have been declining and costs of production have continued to stay at high levels. It really is starting to mount up on producers in terms of the balance sheet for their farming operations.”

The survey reflects a strategic shift across the Cotton Belt. With cotton prices struggling to compete with the current markets for corn and soybeans, many growers are opting for crops with lower overhead.

“In a lot of cases, they’re looking at soybeans as an alternative, in part because of its lower cost of production than what you see in cotton,” Adams notes. This “flight to safety” is a direct response to the high-risk, high-reward nature of cotton in an era of volatile input prices.

Farmers Are Walking Away From Cotton

For Charles Williams, a farmer in Crawfordsville, Ark., he’s seen what multiple years of losses can do to an industry. Cotton is a cornerstone crop in his area, with the infrastructure reliant upon that single crop. But growing cotton also comes with specialized, expensive equipment that’s become almost too costly to own, especially with today’s cotton prices.

“We’ll continue to plant some cotton, at least as much as we did last year,” he says. “Our production last year is half of what it historically is, so we’ll be 50% to 60%, maybe 65% of what we historically plant with cotton,” he says.

Because these farmers have cotton equipment to pay for, equipment that can only do one thing, which is pick cotton, walking away isn’t an easy choice. Williams also is an owner of a gin. So, he says he’s only planting enough cotton to justify the equipment and the gin, but not any more than that. Why? He simply can’t afford to.

Inside the Survey: A Coast-to-Coast Breakdown of 2026 Intentions

The NCC’s annual survey, a massive data-collection effort mailed to producers across the 17-state Cotton Belt in January, provides a granular look at how farmers are shifting their strategies. And when you break it down by region, it shows where the most severe economic pressures could be.

Mid-South: The Sharpest Decline

The Mid-South is bracing for the most dramatic shift, with total intentions down 20.6% to 1.2 million acres.

Arkansas & Missouri: These states are seeing the steepest cuts, with Arkansas down 30.3% and Missouri down 25.0%.
The Outlier: Louisiana stands against the trend, with growers expecting to plant 17.1% more cotton.

Southeast: A Broad Pullback

Respondents in the Southeast indicated a 4.9% decline in total acreage, falling to 1.6 million acres, with more of a shift toward corn and soybeans.

Georgia: Growers expect to reduce acreage by 3.6% to 805,000 acres—a historic low. This marks only the fourth time in 30 years that Georgia has dipped below the 1.1-million-acre threshold.
Significant Drops: Virginia leads the decline at 17.9%, followed by South Carolina (10.5%) and North Carolina (6.0%).

Southwest: A Patchwork of Growth

Bucking the national trend, Southwest growers intend to plant 1.6% more cotton.

Kansas & Oklahoma: Kansas is looking at a 9.6% increase at the expense of wheat and soybeans, while Oklahoma is charging ahead with a 15.7% increase.
Texas: The nation’s largest producer remains relatively flat with a 0.4% increase. However, internal shifts are happening: West Texas is reporting a slight uptick, while the Blacklands region intends to pivot toward sorghum.

The West: Upland Down, ELS Up

In the West, the story is a tale of two cottons. While Upland cotton acreage is expected to decline by 7.2%, with New Mexico seeing a sharp 17.6% drop. Extra Long Staple (ELS) cotton is seeing a resurgence.

Looking Ahead: A New Safety Net With Long-Term Gains vs. Short-Term Pain

Despite the projected acreage drop, Adams points to several reasons for long-term optimism rooted in the latest Farm Bill provisions. The industry is just beginning to see the “heavy lifting” done by recent legislative wins, though the timing of the relief remains a challenge for growers facing immediate bills.

Key improvements to the safety net, according to Adams, include:

Reference Price Hikes: A 14% increase in reference prices for seed cotton under Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) programs.
Enhanced Insurance: Significant improvements to the Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO), including an increase in the premium subsidy to 80%.
Program Synergy: For the first time, growers can utilize these area-wide insurance products alongside PLC enrollment, providing a multi-layered defense against market drops.

“The combination of those two programs for 2026 and beyond will give growers better risk management, better price support, and a better safety net under them,” Adams explains.

However, there is a catch: the lag in payment distribution. Growers must navigate the 2026 planting season and its associated expenses before the support from the 2025 crop arrives this October.

Reclaiming the Market: “Plant, Not Plastic”

To combat the acreage slide and sagging prices, the NCC is aggressively pursuing new legislative and promotional avenues to bolster domestic and global demand.

The first is the “Buy American Cotton Act,” a proposal to offer tax credits to brands and retailers that document the use of U.S.-grown cotton.

“We purchase roughly 20 million bale equivalents of cotton textile products... but only about 4 million bales of that is actually U.S. cotton,” Adams says. The act aims to incentivize “dirt to shirt” production within the U.S., potentially reshoring a textile industry that has largely moved overseas.

The industry is also leaning into the sustainability movement with its “Plant, Not Plastic” campaign. This initiative targets the growing consumer concern over microplastics found in synthetic fibers like polyester.

“Cotton is a healthy alternative,” Adams says. He noted that the industry’s message is gaining traction at the highest levels, even reaching the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) commission, which recently highlighted the need for more study on the health impacts of synthetic microfibers.

Looking Ahead: The Path to Recovery for Cotton

While the 2026 outlook remains cautious, the industry is betting on a combination of legislative support and consumer education to turn the tide. By focusing on “nearshoring” opportunities in the Western Hemisphere and emphasizing cotton’s natural advantages over synthetics, the NCC hopes to create a more resilient market for the years to come.

The goal is to build demand at hone while changing behavior of brands and retailers. If they start using U.S. cotton instead of polyester or cotton from another country, there is hope for the future of cotton demand.

Syngenta Reinforces Its Focus on Biologicals

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 14:59:49 GMT

Since 2020, Syngenta has put a focus on expanding and improving biologicals. Building on the recent launch of its new biologicals production facility in South Carolina, the company is continuing to grow its biologicals division with the recent acquisition of certain Novartis technologies.

Among the materials acquired are:

Novartis’ repository of natural compounds and genetic strains for agricultural use (Novartis will retail for rights of the pharmaceutical use)
The Novartis natural products and biomolecular chemistry team
A lease on the Novartis fermentation pilot plant and science laboratories in Basel, Switzerland

“With the broadest and most comprehensive portfolio across all segments of biological products, we have established ourselves as a leader in the industry. In a constantly growing market, it is important to ensure a pipeline capable of supporting continuous evolutions. I am convinced that this acquisition will allow us to maintain our capacity to innovate,” says Jonathan Brown, global head of Syngenta’s seedcare and biologicals business.

This move comes after a research collaboration Syngenta and Novartis had in 2019. The acquisition is expected to close June 1.

Other companies Syngenta is currently collaborating on biologicals with include:

Provivi for new pheromone solutions, targeting devastating pests in key crops across Asia
Ginkgo Bioworks to accelerate the launch of innovative biologicals
Intrinsyx Bio in the fast growth area of nutrient use efficiency
Lavie Bio to discover and develop novel bio-insecticide
Lithos Crop Protect for sprayable pheromone targeting the Western Corn Rootworm pest
TraitSeq to leverage AI to accelerate the development of innovative biologicals.

“We invest significantly to offer the industry’s most advanced pipeline of innovative agricultural solutions. The integration of these world-class assets opens a new chapter on our ability to develop cutting-edge biological solutions for farmers and reflects our commitment to drive solutions that continue to elevate the sustainability of agriculture,” says Camilla Corsi, Syngenta’s global head of crop protection research and development.

Risk and Reward: How These Farms Found Success With Vertical Integration

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 13:00:00 GMT

Johnny Hunter II was just 10 years old when he lost his dad. At the time, Hunter’s family had 12,000 acres of rice and soybeans under cultivation near Dexter, Mo. And while his mom could have sold the family acreage, she chose to keep the farm for her two children, preserving an already existing family legacy of planning for future generations.

“My dad was an early adopter of precision - leveling and irrigation and no-till,” Hunter says. “That was an extremely smart business move.”

The third generation to run what’s now known as Castor River Habitat and Farm, Hunter points out his dad’s decision improved the value of the land as well as its production.

Eight years ago, Hunter made an equally important decision for the farm: vertically integrating.

“At one time I was farming 6,000 acres, and I was miserable,” he says.

Hunter says he saw two paths to stay in farming: Be a low-cost producer with tens of thousands of acres with economies of scale or learn how to create value by putting a product in the world so consumers can reward you for it.

Castor River Achieves Market Distinguishment
Hunter’s family made the decision to vertically integrate in 2017. The following year they constructed a rice mill, created a CPG brand and built out their own packaging line. Then, they launched a trucking company to cover first-mile distribution of their long-grain rice. They also partnered with warehouses in strategic areas of the country.

“From field to warehouse, it’s all Castor River,” Hunter says.

Now, rather than aspiring to farm tens of thousands of acres, Hunter’s family owns and operates a land company, farming company, trucking company and a parent corporation.

“Before [vertically integrating], we employed two full-time people,” he says. “Now we employ over a dozen, farming 2,500 acres of rice, soybeans and corn.”

Castor River’s target audience is anyone who wants sustainably grown, high-quality food, Hunter explains. Business channels include food service, partnering with restaurants, college campuses, institutions and catering companies. High-end grocery retail stores comprise the farm’s other channel. They also sell their long-grain rice products directly to consumers online.

“Having your own brand opens up the opportunity for new revenue channels,” Hunter says.

“Landowners and farmers are all highly concerned about what yearly revenues are going to be,” Hunter adds. “By vertically integrating and going direct, we have transformed ourselves from price-takers to price-makers.”

Reviving a State’s Tradition
Unlike the Hunters, South Carolina’s Coxe family did not begin their operation in rice production. When Campbell Coxe graduated college in 1981, he came home for the summer to help his grandfather farm the family’s 1,000 acres of mostly cotton.

“I was a geography major and was going to see the world,” Coxe says. “But I fell in love with this piece of property and never left.”

In 1986, Coxe took over the operation, but disillusionment set in quickly. Over the course of a decade, the farm averaged about $16,000 per year, and Coxe was borrowing close to $1 million just to plant cotton.

“At the time, the cost of cotton was incredibly high, and the return was so low I couldn’t get my hands around it,” he notes.

He searched for a crop he could take directly to customers — growing and processing on the farm.

Located in the Pee Dee River watershed, Coxe’s fifth-generation farm sits about two hours north of the Lowcountry. The state’s subtropical, humid climate makes growing conditions ideal for nearly any crop.

But Coxe was looking for gold — Carolina Gold rice, that is. Once the largest producer of rice throughout the Colonial period, South Carolina’s rice industry began its steep decline after the Civil War, owing to labor, pest and weather issues. By the early 1900s, rice all but disappeared.

“South Carolina’s rice culture was interesting, but rice wouldn’t come back commercially unless it’s profitable,” Coxe says.

In 1998, he decided to plant 10 acres of Carolina Gold, the original 1685 varietal grown in the area. Timing became key.

“The internet was picking up speed, and there was an interest in farm-to-dinner plate just as we were getting up and running,” he says.

As his business and his acreage expanded, Coxe constructed a rice mill on-site. “There hadn’t been a mill in South Carolina since the Civil War, but I didn’t want to keep sending my rice to Arkansas with diesel fuel prices at $5 a gallon.”

Striking Gold with Vertical Integration
Today, Carolina Plantation Rice includes 200 acres of rice, composed of four varieties. It produces cornmeal, grits, fish fry breading and rice flour. Unlike larger producers, Coxe doesn’t keep the highly aromatic rice stored for prolonged periods.

“When it’s fresh and new, it has a pungent taste and smell. We want the consumer to get as fresh from the farm as they can get.”

Direct-to-consumer online sales make up 40% of the farm’s orders, with the balance in wholesale orders from national supermarket chains, such as Whole Foods and Fresh Market, as well as large restaurant groups.

“We’re growing more and more every year because market shares increase,” Coxe says.

Though vertical integration has transformed his operation, Coxe notes that challenges still remain.

“Every bit of it is hard,” he says. “You’ve got to have a good market, and you have to have your marketing planned in your mind or on paper. Where are you going to take this stuff? What’s it going to cost? And who’s going to implement it?”

How Deli Meat Made SC a Turkey-producing Giant

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 04:17:16 GMT

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Every year, 12 million or so turkey hatchlings arrive in South Carolina, bound for hundreds of farms in the Pee Dee and the Upstate where they will be raised for months.

By one estimate, the turkeys — mostly males, known as toms — will be worth more than $400 million a year once they’ve all grown up. They’ll easily be the state’s second-largest farm product, far bigger than iconic crops like peaches, cotton or tobacco. Only chickens will contribute more to the state’s agriculture sector.

But the enormous size of the turkey industry here has little to do with the state’s farming traditions. South Carolina hardly has a long heritage as a poultry-producing state. The grains the birds eat aren’t grown here, either.

The prominence of turkeys in the Palmetto State economy owes instead to the forces of logistics plied by one of the world’s largest food producers. The emergence of South Carolina’s turkey supply chain is akin to the growth of auto parts manufacturing that followed BMW’s factory in Spartanburg and the aerospace work that followed Boeing’s arrival in North Charleston.

The kernel of the turkey industry is a household name, too: Oscar Mayer.

That’s because most of the turkey sold under the Oscar Mayer name passes through a factory in Newberry: Bologna, bacon and franks. Cold cuts with applewood, honey and mesquite flavoring.

The operation processes millions of turkeys a year, though its parent company, Kraft Heinz, won’t say how much food it produces each year. It’s one of three Oscar Mayer turkey plants in the nation, and the company said Newberry’s is the largest.

The plant, which is nearly 50 years old, is a force in the state’s agriculture sector. It buys the overwhelming majority of South Carolina’s turkeys, and it has spurred the industry’s expansion here.

In fact, Ron Prestage, who runs the state’s largest turkey company, said his firm wouldn’t be here without it. Cassatt-based Prestage Farms of South Carolina oversees 578 turkey houses in eight counties, mostly around its headquarters near Camden.

Prestage Farms, which is a major player in North Carolina’s poultry business, started raising birds in the Pee Dee in the mid-1990s at Oscar Mayer’s request. The company wanted more turkeys to be produced near its factory, and two decades later, Prestage said it accounts for 70 percent of the plant’s supply.

These days, Prestage sells 6.5 million birds a year spread out between more than 100 farmers, who raise them under contract.

Yet not a single one will be served for Thanksgiving dinner, Prestage said. Neither will the South Carolina-raised birds owned by his primary competitor, North Carolina-based Circle S Ranch, he said. Circle S didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The business of growing hens — the stars of Thanksgiving dinner — belongs to states like Minnesota and North Carolina, Arkansas and Missouri. In South Carolina, commercial production focuses on toms, male turkeys that grow too big to fit in a conventional oven.

And anyway, every bird Prestage and Circle S raise in the state is sent straight to Oscar Mayer.

The cluster of turkey farms near Oscar Mayer’s factory resembles other industry groups that have emerged in South Carolina.

BMW’s arrival in the Upstate helped develop a constellation of suppliers making parts in the Palmetto State, an ecosystem that will be bolstered by the Mercedes-Benz Vans and Volvo factories under construction near Charleston. Boeing’s plant in North Charleston is beginning to form a network of companies making pieces of planes in South Carolina.

Companies like BMW and Boeing are sought after because it takes a sophisticated supply chain to build cars and planes. Growing turkeys isn’t so different.

For Prestage’s firm, the process begins in North Carolina, where breeders use artificial insemination to fertilize hundreds of thousands of eggs each week.

Eggs are incubated near Fayetteville, N.C., and baby turkeys, which are called poults, are shipped away once they hatch a few weeks later. Males are pulled aside and sent to South Carolina.

On the farm, they live on top of wood shavings shredded at a factory Prestage Farms owns. Every day, they eat feed produced at a company-owned mill in Cassatt. Their food arrives on trucks it maintains, too. A team of veterinarians stops by at least once a week.

“You have some cluster effects like ... with Boeing or BMW, but it’s just sort of below the radar,” said Hugh Weathers, South Carolina’s agriculture commissioner. “Until you get out into rural South Carolina, you just don’t quite notice it.”

The top-to-bottom business model is common in poultry production. Companies like Prestage Farms typically own the birds from when they hatch until they’re processed, even though they’re raised on independent farms.

That model — and the supply chain it requires — helps explain how the South became a dominant player in the poultry business, said Tom Vukina, an agricultural economist at North Carolina State University. It began with mills that sold feed to farmers on credit and later decided to take a more active role in the business by providing feed for free — and owning the birds outright.

The all-encompassing corporate structure would later become the backbone of the industry worldwide, and its gravitational pull helped form clusters of poultry production. The largest runs in a long belt from Arkansas to North Carolina.

The South’s prominence is “really kind of puzzling,” Vukina said: Most of the grain chickens and turkeys eat comes on rail cars from the Midwest. New England has a longer tradition of raising birds.

But the region does have lots of open space, and it’s closer to big markets on the East Coast, teeming with millions of consumers who might buy a pack of sliced turkey.

South Carolina’s turkey industry has been relatively steady since Prestage Farms set up shop in the mid-'90s. After a few years of expansion, the state’s output has been essentially flat.

The state produces 12 million birds a year, according to the most recent federal data, and it’s been holding at that level since 2008.

The lack of growth owes partly to what the state produces: Consumers’ appetite for packaged meats like sausage and bologna has cooled off over the last few years, according to the market researcher Euromonitor.

Processed poultry is no different, its research shows. After retreating the last two years, it has slimmed down to a $5.6 billion-a-year industry. But there are hopeful signs in the poultry business, Prestage said. Ground turkey has taken off recently, and exports of dark meat are growing.

That’s helped boost the dollar value of the state’s turkey output. Boyd Parr, the director of Clemson Livestock Poultry Health, said the industry is worth somewhere between $376 million and $406 million in South Carolina, depending on whose estimate you trust.

“We don’t have as many turkey processing facilities in the state,” said Weathers, the agriculture commissioner. “Were we to get that changed through our economic-development efforts, you would see substantial growth.”

And that might happen, he said.

South Carolina is in talks with another poultry processor considering opening a plant here. Weathers said the company, which he declined to name, wants to know whether the state can raise more birds, including turkeys.

If those plans materialize, he said, it would set up somewhere near Charleston, in another area without much of a history of poultry farming.

And the state would set out to build a turkey supply chain from scratch, all over again.

Copyright 2017, The Associated Press